[Freeman and Sear]
   [Auctions & Lists][Mail Bid Sale][News & Events][Shopping Cart][Account Login][About Us]
ancient classic artifacts coins numismatic roman greek

                                 Lot: 20

    [Search Mail Bid Sale]
       Enter Search Term                          (click on image to enlarge)
            [Image]              CRETE: Gortyna. Ca. 300–280 BC. AR stater.
    (i.e. Keywords, Catalog
           ID, etc.)             CRETE. Gortyna. Ca. 300–280 BC. AR stater (10.72 gm). Europa
                                 seated three-quarters right in plane tree, assaulted by Zeus
                                 in form of eagle / Heifer standing right, turning head to
      Mail Bid Home Page         bite right hind leg and lashing tail, fly below. Le Rider
                                 pl. v, 17 (same dies). Svoronos 81, pl. xv, 5 (same reverse
                                 die). Very rare. Struck from slightly worn dies. Lightly
                                 granular surfaces. Toned. Good very fine

                                 The obverse of this stater again illustrates the myth of
                                 Europa, in this case showing the moment of the hieros gamos
                                 (sacred marriage) in the plane tree. The bovine animal on
                                 the reverse is normally identified as a bull and taken to
                                 symbolize the earlier part of the myth, in which Zeus took
                                 the form of a bull to kidnap the princess. In this case,
                                 however, the animal has no obvious masculine attributes and
                                 is associated with a large fly. Though flies accompany
                                 cattle in reality, they are rarely if ever shown in artistic
                                 depictions of bulls. Thus the fly may serve to identify this
                                 as a representation of Io, the priestess of Hera at Argos
                                 who was loved by Zeus and transformed into a heifer. A
                                 gadfly, sent by Hera to torment her, drove Io from Argos to
                                 the island of Euboea (or in another version of the myth, to
                                 Egypt) where she gave birth to her son Epaphus. Io would
                                 have been portrayed on the coinage of Gortyna as the great
                                 ancestress of Europa through a line that included Libya,
                                 Belus (Ba’al), Egyptus, and Agenor, king of Tyre. It is also
                                 possible that a variant of the myth of Io had her give birth
                                 on Crete, for the city of Praesus struck a stater showing Io
                                 in her bovine form, nursing Epaphus.

                                 Estimated Value: $ 4,000

 ... Lot was unsold.
 


From the Freeman & Sear Mail Bid Sale 13, Closed August 25th, 2006.

Re-used by permission of Freeman & Sear, www.freemanandsear.com.